Dancing With Bullets
by TheSilentSwordsman
Summary: SEQUEL TO SWORDS AND BOWS: Kazuto Kirigaya and Shino Asada have made it out of the death game Sword Art Online, but they left something- or someone behind. Ghosts from the past await them at every turn- will they be able to recover their daughter in Gun Gale Online? DISCLAIMER: I do not own Sword Art Online. T for mild cursing. Cover image not mine. ON HOLD INDEFINITELY
1. Return

**I**

Return

* * *

The harsh light of three computer monitors strained Kazuto's eyes as his fingers flew across the keyboard. White text against a black background raced by, his onyx orbs only catching a few decipherable lines.

 _Extracting…_

 _Success!_

 _Compiling…_

 _Failed!_

 _Program finished with error code -137._

He slammed his fists on the surface of his desk, evidently frustrated. He'd run over a hundred tests with different algorithms, but they'd all ended in failure. What was he doing wrong? With all of his expertise at his disposal, why couldn't he crack the code?

He'd promised; _promised_ that Yui would return.

Shino had looked at him, smiling so brightly. _You can do it,_ she had said, encouragingly, optimistically. _There's no one more capable of doing this than you._

And yet, despite his girlfriend's words, _nothing_. A month had already passed, but he made _no_ progress.

GGO had been a false lead. The framework hadn't been based on Sword Art Online at all, and paired with Shino's strange reluctance to log in and play it with him, the whole venture was a bust. Being the coding genius he was, storing Yui in his NerveGear had been relatively easy.

It was opening her program that proved to be a challenge.

He let his head fall and rest on his keyboard, unintentionally inputting lines upon lines of gibberish into the command line that he had previously been working with.

He was lucky Shino wasn't sleeping in his room that night, otherwise she'd surely be awake. She'd gone to stay with her grandparents, and Kazuto was _not_ enjoying the solitude. Defeated, and deciding that he was done for the night, the bright screens faded to black with the simple touch of a button. Kazuto rolled into bed, tiredly throwing the thick quilt over himself.

Despite the comfortable bed, he found himself unable to sleep. He knew what would come—more dreams. Every night, he'd dream about Akihiko Kayaba's virtual world. They would start out happy enough—the perfect life he'd shared with Shino, together again. Then, everything would fall apart- literally. Aincrad would collapse, and with it, his family. He would wake up in a cold sweat, even more motivated than he was before to get Yui back. Every day he got closer—and yet every day his goal seemed to take another step away from him. It was as if Akihiko Kayaba himself had cursed Kazuto with his last breath.

The maniac had conducted a high-output scan of his brain, rumoured to be able to transfer one's consciousness into the internet. It also killed the real body, however, so the creator of the virtual world had simply been deemed as "deceased."

Kazuto lay in bed, eyes heavy with fatigue but never closing, waiting for a sleep that likely would not come.

* * *

Shino had barely woken up from the morning's light, when her phone began to vibrate with incoming messages. Feeling around on her nightstand, she lazily grasped her phone and brought it to her bleary eyes.

[Hey, Shino. How are you?] – Kazuto, 08:09

Her fingers still feeling like ice; slow and heavy, she clumsily hammered out a response.

[Same as always… Bored without you ;P] – Shino, 08:10

She paused, remembering something else. Without waiting for a reply, she typed another message.

[Any progress on Yup?] – Shino, 08:10

[Shit, autocorrect. I meant Yui, haha.] – Shino, 08:11

A little bubble appeared on the bottom of the screen, indicating that Kazuto was composing a reply.

[Not really. I've been trying every day, though.] – Kazuto, 08:11

[Oh. Make sure you get enough sleep. I know how you can get when you're determined to do something. So single-minded.] – Shino, 08:12

[Do you remember that game, GGO?] – Kazuto, 08:14

[Um, yeah. What about it?] – Shino, 08:14

Shino gulped. She thought the idea of Gun Gale Online was behind them. To her utter dismay, it was making a comeback.

[It got a huge update today.] – Kazuto, 08:14

A huge update? Why wouldn't he just tell her what it was? Unless…

[Here's a bit from the patch notes. 'General bug and glitch fixes, huge improvements to gameplay and immersion. We've inherited some technology from our friends at RECT Progress.'] – Kazuto, 08:15

[What does that have to do with anything?] – Shino, 08:16

[RECT was the company that superseded Argus.] – Kazuto, 08:16

[So, in other words…] – Shino, 08:16

[Exactly. GGO has had SAO's framework built in.] – Kazuto, 08:17

[What about your own code?] – Shino, 08:18

[I've tried and tried… There's no way it's going anywhere. Is something wrong? You seem like you're trying to avoid GGO.] – Kazuto, 08:19

Shino's fingers froze over her keyboard as Kazuto struck a particularly sour chord. In the almost-year that they had been together, she'd neglected to tell him about her past. She couldn't decide whether it was out of fear that he would call her a terrible person and leave her behind… Or if it was out of shame—could she ever face the memories without feeling immense guilt?

[Do you want to talk about it? I'm here for you.] – Kazuto, 08:21

Shino pursed her lips.

[I'd rather not.] – Shino, 08:22

[Alright, fine. I'm going to dive in to see what's going on. You don't have to come with me if you really don't want to; Don't stress yourself, okay?] – Kazuto, 08:23

At this, Shino breathed a sigh of relief, though guilt crept in. Why was she putting everything on Kazuto's shoulders? How was that fair? She had to face her fears sooner than later—for heaven's sake, it wasn't just about her! This was about Kazuto; this was about _Yui_! She'd been indirectly pressuring Kazuto over the revival of their daughter, and yet she'd done nothing useful to help him out. Who knew how many sleepless nights the other teen had to go through because of her? Who knew how many meals Kazuto skipped to further invest his time into reviving Yui?

Shino got out of bed, tossing the covers off. She stretched, the cold air grazing her now-exposed stomach. She dressed quickly into a simple t-shirt and shorts, noting how light her head felt since her hair had been cut short again, similar to the way she had done it before the SAO mess. Going back to her bed, she smoothed the duvet and laid down on it once again, pulling along the NerveGear she'd dragged from under her bed. She inserted the GGO cartridge, and was bewildered when she saw the notification about the newest update.

 _Update required. Size: 39 GB._

As far as she had been aware before, all the game data was stored in the cartridge. Kazuto had laid that theory to rest, however, when he explained that the game cartridge was kind of like a key, authenticating you to download, log in, and subsequently play the game. In the same conversation, Kazuto had brought up the subject of the newest FullDive device, the AmuSphere. It had been designed off the framework of the NerveGear, but the neural sensors had been restricted, so that they no longer had the power to completely fry one's brain. As a result, it no longer could block out all nerve signals, and the wearer may move, even while diving. Most NerveGears had been confiscated by the government to be destroyed- but Kazuto had managed to convince the Internal Affairs Minister, Kikuoka Seijirou, to allow him to keep his NerveGear. Hesitantly, she'd asked Kazuto to request the same of her NerveGear- not much out of sentiment or monetary value, but because of practicality. While a small part of her mind constantly reminded her of the fear of being trapped in a game again, her better judgement knew that with most of the playerbase using an AmuSphere, it would be pointless. It didn't help that she couldn't afford one, anyway.

Shino sighed. In the suburban area where her grandparents lived, internet was still relatively slow. 39 gigabytes would take at least an hour to download… Which left her with time to kill. She moved over to the table in the room, which sat in front of a large window. Whoever designed this room had apparently never heard of glare. Squinting, she opened the browser of an old desktop computer and navigated to { gun-gale-online/about}. She'd always been one of those weird people that used a search engine as little as possible when looking for websites, instead opting to input the complete URL. She took satisfaction in knowing that the precise combination of letters and symbols actually meant something.

Trying to keep her breathing even, she looked over the guns. At a closer look, not all of them looked realistic… Nor did they even look like actual guns.

 _I can handle this_ , she told herself vehemently.

But the energy weapons came and went, and then there were the physical bullet weapons. Real-life guns crowded the monitor, filling her periphery with red.

 _No._

 _No._

 _._

 _NonOnonoONONONONONONOO._

 _Not here!_ Shino struggled against the urge to seal her eyes shut and smash the LED screen in. She gripped the mouse so tightly that her knuckles grew white; her other hand was grasping the edge of her seat, ensuring that she wouldn't fall off and start screaming. _It's a game. Come on, Shino, it's just a game. Nobody actually_ kills _anyone!_

She focused on her breathing, waiting for her mind to become blank, and then for logic to take its place.

It was just a game.

Just. A. Game.

None of this was real.

 _None of this was real._

She focused on the task at hand—to help her boyfriend revive their daughter.

That was what mattered.

 _That_ was _real_.

Not the guns. Because the guns were just accessories to the situation.

Shino was able to look at the various rifles and shotguns without outright panicking, but her hands still shook. Why... had that thought ( _It's just a game._ ) filled her with strength—filled her with… Longing? Was it because Sword Art Online had been everything to her? Even—even _when_ it became a death game? Because, through Sword Art Online, she had met Kazuto and Yui? No, it was because, in SAO, she had been strong. Something she'd never been in real life; _Sinon the archer wasn't Shino the weakling_. Sword Art Online made her feel alive.

Gun Gale Online could very well do the same.

With strengthened resolve, Shino moved to check the download on the NerveGear's semi-transparent display. _Update, 32% completed._

She sighed, closing her browser page without a second glance. Long ago, a certain black-clad boy had said: "You can only face your fears head-on. There is no other angle you can come at, no special trick that will get rid of it."

Shino still remembered that piece of advice clearly—and now, she had every intention of following it. Post-traumatic stress disorder _could_ be conquered. It was just _much_ easier said than done.

Not having anything else to do to pass the time, Shino stared out the window. Due to it being the middle of January, there was no wildlife to watch; Only the snow gathered on tree branches, and the streets kept neatly swept. She could still see the miniscule lines of snow left behind—evidence that someone had gone and shoveled the sidewalk earlier that day. Shino continued to observe the scenery outside, up until a small sound that resembled a bell ringing caught her attention. Slowly, she tore her eyes from the beautiful outside world, and checked her NerveGear. Sure enough, the small display flashed two words.

 _Update complete!_

Shino sighed, knowing it was once again time to enter the virtual world.

She laid down, gingerly, so as to not tangle any of the device's cords. The helmet slipped over her head, and with it came a sense of familiarity. She knew she shouldn't be taking comfort in the device that had emaciated her, and almost killed her on several occasions, but there was a strange nostalgia associated with putting the device back on.

Even with all that, it wasn't like she could afford an AmuSphere. The new FullDive device had released not a year after the SAO incident, and apparently didn't have the strength to microwave even a pizza, much less one's brain.

With a final breath of determination, Shino uttered the magic words:

" **Link, start**!"

As it had many times before, the NerveGear rushed her through many sensations—light, sound, smell, taste and touch, before finally arriving at the splash screen for Gun Gale Online.

"Create your character!" A stereotypical male announcer-voice spoke from seemingly out of nowhere and everywhere all at once, startling her. Other than the glow from the "title screen", she was surrounded by pitch black. Shino was looking at what seemed to be a mirror—and then was momentarily confused after the figure didn't mimic her movements. All of the standard parameters had already been set to the numbers the NerveGear had received from the first calibration process she'd done, two years prior. Her height had mostly remained the same at 161 centimeters. Having been told that changing one's height suddenly can have surprising effects on the ability to walk by a VR magazine, she elected not to touch that slider.

Biting her lip, she moved the corresponding sliders to make herself slightly slimmer; which also affected her weight. She almost thought to check over her shoulder for anyone that would be peeking on her character creation process- though she knew that was impossible. Something still felt off, however… Shino looked her avatar up and down, trying to decide what irked her. Her eyes landed on her black hair- and she immediately switched tabs on the menu to the 'hair' section, and changed the colour to a light teal blue, also selecting metal hair clips instead of her usual ribbons.

Sinon, widely regarded as the ice-cold archer from Sword Art Online stared blankly at her in the mirror, unmoving. Aside from the gear she wore, everything was the same. From the basic assortment of starter equipment, she'd chosen a black tank top, a pair of grey, moderately baggy tactical pants, and a pair of ankle-high black boots, that the pants automatically tucked into. Overtop, she picked a moderately thick form-fitting jacket with a low collar that extended to meet her pants, covered with a mixed urban-desert camouflage. Due to the environment of most of the game's locations, this mixture would be best for staying unseen, and it would be the layer she'd shed if it became too hot.

Of course, since this was an MMORPG at heart, the gear probably wouldn't last long until some monster dropped an upgrade, but it was good to keep all that in mind, regardless.

Happy with her appearance, Shino- no, Sinon pressed the accept button. After a brief flash, she opened her eyes to an atmosphere that that could only be described as dark and saturnine. The remainder of a burst of purple flames from her spawn flickered away before her eyes, and she could see only a large plaza from where she stood under a circular gazebo-type structure. The buildings opposite her and on either sides looked as if they were designed with a combination of gothic and renaissance architectural styles, and holographic signs floated around in the air. Several small groups of players talked and laughed, the smell seemingly having no effect on them. A mix of oil, smog and dust hung in the air, forcing Sinon to consciously fill her lungs, trying to accustom herself to the odour.

Walking off the circular platform and down the steps, she made her way through the crowd until she reached the corner of the square, where a path led out into the huge city of SBC Glocken. The cloud of dark smog over the city didn't seem to end; it extended out over the barren landscape as far as the eye could see, even outside of the city. The previously small holo-signs grew into huge advertisements that floated along the lengths of the multiple bridges and roads that connected the various buildings and structures on different levels. In the distance, twin spires rose up into the sky, like two identical blades. In the middle, floating in a large, curved gap between the two peaks, a glowing golden orb seemed to rotate, pulse and collapse within itself all at the same time, while maintaining a perfect spherical shape. If Glocken truly was a space battleship, it was anyone's guess as to what function that part served.

Sinon's first priority was to find a test range, so she'd be able to try her small starting weapon- which was a miniature laser pistol. It rested on the standard holster she had strapped to her left thigh, and the design wasn't unlike the model gun she had kept in her drawer at her old apartment. Still, she didn't dare to take it out yet, fearful of the reaction she might have. The little display in the bottom right corner of her vision told her that she had infinite ammo- either because it was the starting pistol, or because she wouldn't ever have to reload it, as it was an energy weapon. Above that, a single white bar with her name indicated her health. In the bottom left corner, a welcome departure from the relatively useless information that had crowded SAO's UI, she found a compass and the weather in her area. A glance told her that it was 19 degrees Celsius, and cloudy. She suspected that in Glocken, the weather display would show cloudy every day.

Walking along the elevated, mostly empty streets, a large building in the distance caught her eye with neon flashing letters. 'MARKET', they read. A little bored with the scenery which seemed to be almost the same no matter where she went, she picked her pace up to a light jog, noting how effortless it was to do so with her slightly lower weight- about two or three kilograms less than real life. Moving towards the large storefront, the acute lack of physical products slightly surprised her. Merely shelves of silhouettes covered the walls and various islands in the store, with each only providing the name and specifications of the gun. Some were rudimentary pieces of information, such as the weight and size and magazine capacity, but others, Sinon couldn't understand whatsoever. What was a caliber? What did ACP stand for? Without any of this knowledge, she decided to spend not a credit of her starting sum of 5,000.

As standard with most gun stores in the real world and this one, a door in the corner of the market was labelled with another neon sign, reading: 'RANGE'. Walking through the door, the seemingly unused space when looking from the outside into the building was explained. The indoor range, while darkly coloured, was quite well lit by fluorescent lights overhead as well as what looked to be LED accents along every exposed hard line, be it the separators between booths or the edges of the small tables. The range was composed of 15 lanes, each about 30 meters long. The first few lanes were filled by players, firing various guns- assault rifles, pistols and shotguns. The cacophony of mixed gunshots rang throughout the chamber, and Sinon put her hands over her ears. Even though she did, however, nothing changed except her hearing had been muffled- after all, hearing couldn't be damaged in VR.

Walking a little further than the first unoccupied booth just to save herself from the coming embarrassment of not being able to hit the target, Sinon moved towards the small table, where she set her pistol after pulling it from the holster. Staring at it intently, as if it might jump up and bite her, her fears ran almost out of control. She knew that if she didn't pick that gun up and fire it now, she wouldn't be able to bring herself to do it, ever. Swallowing those fears from the weak Shino's past, Sinon lifted the gun with one arm, closing an eye. Two small posts sticking up from the back of the gun matched to a single post at the front, forming what she knew to be the ironsights.

 _Breathe in. Breathe out._ Sinon removed her finger from where it lay flat across the frame of the gun, and moved it inside the trigger guard. Nothing happened. In fact, it almost felt _natural_. That should scare her, or make her feel like a murderer at least. No foreign reaction invaded her, though. Just the feeling of her breathing, holding that weapon. It really was no different from her bow, in the way that it was a deadly ranged weapon, but it still required one strong enough to wield it for it to have any use. This time, not just in the physical sense.

She put her finger on the trigger, and it gave a little before offering resistance, feeling a little like a cheap plastic toy. Still, no UI elements popped up to help her. It seemed that this game also had put a high priority on authenticity, unlike Sword Art Online, which allowed you to use Sword Skills that would literally move your body for you. Forgetting everything in the moment, Sinon squeezed the trigger.

Even though it was a small laser pistol, the recoil still surprised Sinon. Despite how miniscule it was, it made her hand jump back, and her breath hitch in her throat. She'd seen a bright blue flash from the end of the barrel, but the projectile had hit something and dissipated long before she could track it with her eyes. Pressing a button on the side wall of the range, the target was reeled in closer, from its standard position 30 meters away. Inspecting the vaguely torso-shaped target, which was semi-transparent, a small burn mark and half circle cut away at the very edge of the right shoulder indicated that she had indeed hit the target… But obviously, her accuracy had been affected by something. Only then did she realize how much her hands were shaking- not only could she feel it, but she could obviously see it. Her arms felt weak, and she had to put the pistol down on the table.

Not willing to question why she'd been okay, Sinon released a breath she didn't realize she'd been holding. Steadying her breathing, Sinon picked the energy pistol off of the table, shoving it into the holster on her thigh. About to leave the range, a particular sound caught her attention. It wasn't the _bang!_ Of a gun firing, but more of a characteristic _twang!_ That a bowstring would make.

 _So there are bows in this game, too?_ Intrigued, Sinon moved further down the range than she had been, to find a scrawny-looking boy with thin ale-coloured hair holding a black bow. It was too short to be one of the longbows she'd used in SAO, but it wasn't one of those fancy bows with pulleys she'd seen online. She struggled to remember its name- was it a recurve bow? The arrow he'd fired was quite a way under the bullseye, and over to the right. Immediately, Sinon recognized his mistakes. His stance was off, with his chest almost facing the target. At a distance like this, the arrow shouldn't curve down- unless he wasn't pulling the bowstring back far enough. His left index finger stuck out from the grip of the bow, for whatever reason, and he had finished shooting the arrow with his right hand near his shoulder.

"Don't face your chest towards the target. You want to be about 90 degrees." Sinon found herself saying, impulsively.

"H-huh?" The boy turned, startled. Dumbfounded, he only muttered out a reply. "O-oh, sure." He adjusted himself so that his chest faced the side wall of his booth, his bow arm extended out in front of him.

"That's better," Sinon said, voice slightly monotone.

The boy drew a simple broadhead from a small quiver propped up against the right side of the booth. He nocked it on the bowstring with what looked like a small clip at the back of the arrow, using four fingers to hold it in place.

"Use three fingers instead of four. Index on top, the other two below." Even though she didn't specify exactly what she meant, the boy understood and shifted the fingers that held the arrow. She noted with interest that the shaft arrow rested on a specific place cut out of the grip. Speaking of the grip… "You don't have to hold it that tight. Just the thumb, first and second fingers will do."

"Like… This?" He moved his hand to use only the fingers she'd told him to, but the bow still rested largely in the palm of his hand, and not the butt of it- the correct position. Stepping closer from where she stood behind the booth, she adjusted the bow in his hand so he didn't have to cock his wrist all the way back to hold the bow straight. Surprisingly, his fingers were colder than hers, clammy to the touch. Sinon resisted the urge to wipe her hands on her pants as she stepped back.

The boy pulled the arrow and the string back, but only to about his mid-chest. This explained why the previous arrow had dropped so much.

"Hmm," Sinon thought aloud, "Pull the string back to about your cheek… So that it presses against the middle of your nose." The boy followed her instructions, and satisfied with his posture, Sinon stood back and nodded with a smile. The boy let go of the arrow, and it actually struck through the target this time- just shy of the target's pseudo-pelvis.

"Hey, not bad," she muttered, especially since this seemed like his first time using a bow and arrow. "But, why would you want a bow in a game with guns?"

"Well… They're silent? And pretty accurate at range, I guess." He scratched his head.

"Wouldn't a- uh, silenced sniper rifle be able to do that?" She questioned,

"Well… There are a lot of arrows that have different functions..." He noted, sheepishly.

"Hmm…" Sinon narrowed her eyes at him, before returning to normal and letting out a light giggle. "Ah, I won't press. Anyway, I'm new. Could you tell me what a 'caliber' is?"

"O-oh. Yeah, sure. A caliber is basically the diameter of the bullet, in inches. For example, a 45 caliber bullet is about .45 of an inch in diameter. But it gets kinda weird, because some people also use the metric system, which is why the 9mm is called that. Yeah, I don't know who decided to make it that way." He replied.

"Right… So does that mean bigger is better?" Sinon asked, without any intention of making a joke.

"Well, not necessarily. Look at it this way- would you rather have a big round bullet or a small pointy one? That's pretty much the logic behind the FN Five Seven, and most rifle cartridges. Also, you can fit more small bullets into a magazine than big ones. That was a super simple explanation- you'll learn slowly." As the boy kept talking, he seemed more and more at ease, before realising who he was talking to, and again, became extremely formal. "So… Is that all, miss?"

"Please," Sinon laughed, "It's Sinon. Nice to meet you."

"U-uh, Spiegel. Thanks for teaching me how to shoot, by the way. Where did you learn that?"

"Oh, just an old fantasy game."

"Ah. Well, I hate to say this, but using bows in this game really is a big disadvantage, especially when you can be up against snipers and assault rifles. I wouldn't recommend it, no matter how good you are," Spiegel said.

"Right…" Sinon bit her lip. It looked like she was going to be forced to fire guns anyway- even though bows existed in this game too. She felt a strange mix of fear and anticipation, a feeling one might have if they were about to go skydiving. Would she finally be able to face her fear, now that it was being forced upon her? "So, Spiegel… Can you show me how to fire a gun properly?"

"Alright." He resigned, setting his bow down next to the quiver. Sinon assumed the same stance as before, holding the pistol with one hand, looking down the sights with an eye closed. "Ah, well, it's the starting laser pistol so it shouldn't matter, but you should still hold it with two hands."

"Okay." Sinon shifted her grip, so both of her hands held the small grip of the gun. An aching similarity found her, but she ignored it the best she could. Shino was a different person… A different life.

"And, keep both of your eyes open. Try to focus on the one in front of the sights, though."

 _…What?_ Sinon opened her left eye, and saw an overlapping image of the gun, the sights blurry against her other eye's vision. But, she could still aim, with some focus.

"I'll assume you already know which eye is dominant, since you're an archer?"

"Yeah, it's my right one." She replied, staring intently at the target, past the sights.

"Alright…" Spiegel thought aloud, "Your shoulders are squared… Focus on your breathing- you can fire while your breath is out, or in, but don't fire while breathing. Keep your hands as steady as possible. K… Go ahead."

Sinon pulled the trigger, and the sharp blue laser hit the target, just to the right of the circle in the middle of the target's chest.

"Wow." Sinon let out a shaky breath, with a light laugh. "That helped a lot more than I expected it to. Thanks!"

"Hehe, no problem. Spiegel said, his initial timid-ness completely disappearing. "Well, I've got to log out; my mom is probably gonna kill me for staying in so long."

"Ah, crap! Sorry!" Sinon bowed slightly, apologizing.

"It's fine- it was worth it. Can I friend you?"

"Heh, sure." Sinon laughed, letting Spiegel tap his menu a few times, and log out, disappearing into purple fire. After he'd left, she merely stared at the burnt hole she'd made in the target.

 _It's a small first step… On a long journey._

* * *

 **A/N:** Happy Canada Day!

And it's here! The sequel to Swords and Bows has dropped. Maybe it's not the beginning you all expected, but it's a beginning nonetheless, and I sure as hell am more proud of it than Swords and Bows's beginning.

Now, let's talk about the chapter. The huge thing I had trouble with was describing Shino's PTSD accurately, all while maintaining the idea I had for her, which is what will help drive the story forwards. I have no clue how it would work, and doing any research led to me being even more confused. The anime is no help, either, because it's insanely inconsistent, and pulls a whole ton of bullshit about Shino not being afraid of it in the game- which I kinda pulled here, but I have no idea what other way to do it, to get her to play GGO. If you have an idea, please PM me. Unless the idea is: "Don't write this story." In that case, just don't read it.

Also, as you all know very well, school is out for most of us! Yay! However, I'll be away for 5 out of 8 weeks of the summer months. Aww. This means that you guys probably won't get another chapter for a few months.

Thanks to my wonderful beta, Too Many Obsessions to Choose, or TMOTC for short. She was simply instrumental in the quality and speed that this chapter was finished- I'm sure you have all the readers' gratitude, as well!

 **EDIT** : HUGE changes to this chapter, after suggestions from Agent 94. It now focuses more on the environment and basic mechanics of the GGO that I envisioned, and the next chapter will go further into detail about it.

Anyway, I think that's about all I have to say. Don't Fear the Dark seems to be losing my interest- and if you want to take it up, continue it, spin it into something new, you're more than welcome to if you give me a heads-up, so I can read it!

Until next time,

-TheSilentSwordsman


	2. Respite

**II**

Respite

* * *

"Bartender, bourbon on the rocks." Kazuto plopped down on the stool furthest from the door in the run-down Dicey Café.

While he spoke, the door let in another blast of cool air, characteristic of the waxing autumn season. The bells by the doorframe jangled invitingly. A teen about the same age and height as him sat down on his left; his short black hair was spiked at the front, wind-blown to the side. The one thing that set him apart from any other teenage boy was the pale scar that ran vertically over his right eyelid.

"You know he's just gonna slide you another Oolong tea." Eclipse—or Sei, in this world—grinned at Kazuto, dropping his laptop bag next to the seat.

"It never hurts to try, Eclipse—I've had a bad week." the black-haired teen grimaced slightly, as Andrew, formerly Agil, slid a whiskey glass down the bar counter with an audible smirk.

"Oi, that's bad manners, _Kazuto_. It's Sei here, remember?" The corners of Sei's eyes crinkled as he spoke, humour coming with practised ease.

Kazuto took a sip from his drink.

"So~?" Sei teased, while a familiar sour look appeared on the other boy's face.

"You enjoy that, now." Andrew laughed, and retreated into the kitchen, presumably cleaning up for the day. The late afternoon sun shone through the paned windows, casting grids of light onto the wooden floor.

Sei remained silent, allowing Kazuto an ample taste of his tea.

"Aren't you going to order something?"

"Nah, I'm just here to check up on you. You haven't been acting like yourself lately—everything alright?"

"Well…" Kazuto hesitated. Sei no doubt knew of his predicament, so why was he hesitating? "It's nothing," he finished, muttering under his breath. His tone couldn't have been said to have been aggressive; it would be better described as 'dismissive'.

"So," Sei shifted his weight on his seat before changing the topic. "How's GGO?"

"Who told you I play GGO?" Kazuto feigned aloofness, taking another sip from his glass.

"Ah, the au—"

Andrew's baritone voice rang out from the kitchen, loud and assertive. "Shut up or I'll feed you a belt of ammo, Sei!"

"R-right," he stuttered, intimidated by the threat. "What I meant was, _you_ did. Just now."

"Ah, you got me," Kazuto sighed, holding his palms up in surrender. "But, I just started, so, uh…"

"No worries," Sei waved his raised hands away, "I've been playing for a while, now. I'll show ya around. Careful though—school is starting soon, so don't get too addicted!"

"Right, right. Just promise me one thing," Kazuto murmured, taking the last swig his glass offered.

"Hmm?"

"Don't… Laugh at my avatar."

"Eh?" Sei paused, the strap of his laptop bag on his shoulder, stepping off of the raised stool. "What's wrong with it?"

"I sort of pressed the 'randomize' button," Kazuto got out, barely above a whisper.

At this, Sei smacked a palm against his forehead. "Why would you—actually, don't tell me. You might trick me into killing another few hundred brain cells."

"Eheh…" Kazuto sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck, dipping his head for a moment.

The tail of Sei's knee-length grey coat fluttered as the door opened, his black running shoes planted firmly in the doorway—he'd barely realized that the other boy had gotten up to leave. "Well? Shino's getting back today, isn't she? Wouldn't want to be late, would we?

As if Kazuto could forget. Four days was _too_ long. He looked himself up and down again, making sure his outfit was satisfactory. His usual old leather jacket that he rode his motorcycle with, and black pants that he didn't dare call jeans; although, they couldn't be called slacks either. In other words… He looked the same as yesterday. And the day before, and the one before that.

Sei's last comment had finally registered, and Kazuto narrowed his eyes with mock suspicion. "You're not coming with me, are you?"

"Chill out, it's an expression. Plus, I've got plans." Sei grinned again, as Kazuto dropped a few coins on the bar counter. He picked up his own bag and black motorcycle helmet and strode to the door.

"With Asuna?" Kazuto bumped his friend's shoulder, jokingly.

"Shh." He hushed, face beginning to redden, "She doesn't play GGO… Yet. Anyway, meet me later under the Spire."

"Un, sounds good." Kazuto held up a fist; Sei's met his, and they both turned, walking along their own paths to return home.

* * *

Shino stepped through the automatic door of the large transit building, a blast of cold air smacking against her, as though she had run into a wall. Kawagoe was much colder than the suburbs near Nagasaki, especially in the fall and winter months. She could faintly see her breath misting in front of her nose. The only sort of luggage she'd had to bring was a small duffel bag she could carry on her shoulder, and she was grateful for what little warmth it offered.

A few meters away, just shy of the curb, an old but well-maintained blue motorcycle rested on its kickstand. A teen in black leaned against it, lazily staring up at the sky. He held a black helmet, and from the right handlebar dangled another helmet, decorated with swaths of silvery grey and light blue.

Timidly, Shino walked up to the boy and his ride. With a harsh whisper, she berated him, "… In front of all these people? They'll think we're… you know…" She gestured between them, face tinting with a shade of pink.

"Well, they wouldn't be wrong," Kazuto said snidely, and stole a quick kiss on her cheek. "Plus, there's a good chance that none of these people will ever see us again."

Shino felt her face heating rapidly. _Seriously… The nerve…_ She had to resist the urge to cover her face. During this internal struggle, Kazuto held the extra helmet out to her. Shoving her thoughts away, she took the helmet and slipped it over her head, careful to brush the tied bangs on each side of her face out of the way.

She stole a glance back at the building, and was satisfied to see that no one was watching, anyway. It was moments like these when she wished she could have been more like Sinon—who could have boldly kissed Kazuto back, returning that smirk of his. Even at the thought, her blush deepened, colouring her cheeks a bright vermilion. No doubt, she was _not_ used to having a boyfriend in real life.

"Erm, Kirito?" She muttered, just as the teen had finished strapping up his own helmet and placed his hands on the handlebars.

"Huh?" She could barely hear his voice through the darkened visor.

"I don't know how to do these…" She spoke in the same quiet tone as before, gesturing to the buckles that still hung under her chin.

"Ah," he chuckled, reaching out with slender fingers. They skillfully threaded the weaved strap through two rings and clasped a button closed, securing the helmet. After this, though, his hand remained.

"Uhm… Is something wrong?" She couldn't see his eyes, but nevertheless could feel them staring into hers. She flicked her gaze down to the road.

"A-ah, no." He quickly drew his hand back, and shook his head. "I was just thinking; you usually wear glasses, don't you?" He then reached out again and flicked her own visor down.

"I do…" Was her simple answer, as she climbed on and sat behind Kazuto nimbly.. In reality, the glasses she wore bore no prescription, but were instead made from a bulletproof material called 'NXT Polymer'. Even if they were able to stop only the most measly of bullets, the spectacles made her feel infinitely safer. However, after Kazuto had mumbled, probably absentmindedly, about her looking cuter without them, she'd supposed that they could be retired temporarily—if not permanently. She no longer needed that form of protection—the slim though solid body in front of her, which she had her arms wrapped around, gave her all the security she needed.

"Well, hold on!" Kazuto exclaimed, and he twisted the throttle and let go of the clutch, causing the bike to take off like a rocket.

"-whoa!" Shino couldn't help but shout as Kazuto peeled out of the parking lot and into traffic, where he was immediately forced to slow down again. The loud revs of a rare gas-engine bike filled the streets; most other two-wheeled vehicles in Japan were electric scooters. In fact, there was talk of completely banning gas motorcycles soon, and cars after that.

She would never admit it to her grandparents or her mother, but the feeling of the wind whistling through her helmet and the warmth from being pressed to Kazuto's back was what drove her to bound eagerly down the steps of his house almost every day, following him to the motorcycle she'd initially been afraid of.

In short, she loved it almost as much as she loved playing VRMMOs, despite what she'd gone through.

Kazuto slipped through traffic, weaving in and out of lanes while all the other cars were mostly stopped due to it being rush hour. Because they only had to wait at traffic lights, they soon found themselves on the last street, next to the entrance of the park they'd walk to and from each weekend.

At that moment, the sun's last rays disappeared behind the high fences of the neighbourhood, bringing night upon Kawagoe. The motorcycle's two-stroke roar died down to an idle growl as Kazuto stopped in the gated driveway, before turning the key, silencing the engine. Shino tried her best to stay balanced as he kicked out the stand and leaned the bike over slightly. Without protest, she let him take her bag—it wasn't heavy or unwieldy, anyway.

The next few moments were a blur, and they were soon sitting on the couch in the middle of the large living room. The warmth of the of the Kirigaya residence never got old—even if the front door led directly into an open foyer which connected to the living room. Even if the heating had been left off all day, Shino never managed to feel cold inside. Most of the lights had been left off; a single lamp casting an orange ray was the only source of light.

As soon as he relaxed into the soft cushions—after turning that lamp on—Shino leaned over to rest her head on his shoulder.

Kazuto yawned. With a hand muffling his mouth, he managed to say, "I thought you were all embarrassed earlier?"

"Idiot…" Shino muttered, suddenly feeling lethargic. She lacked the energy to be angry or flustered. "It's okay… When we're alone…" She got out between yawns.

It was a rare occurrence for the house, usually full of life, to be so empty. Midori had been gone on a business trip for a few days, and wasn't set to be back for another week. Suguha had recently been entertaining the idea of staying over at a friend's, and Kazuto could only assume that's where she was.

Speaking of friends, Eclipse had offered to show him the nuances of Gun Gale Online- something he severely needed if he was to get good at it, and get the attention of the American devs.

That had become his plan, after all. When he'd first logged in, he'd hoped to have an easy situation like finding Yui's data stored as an item in his inventory. Obviously, that hadn't been the case. The next course of action he'd thought of was to get the attention of the devs—but it was rare for them to directly address players in that manner, if not impossible. He'd be able to garner attention in winning the Bullet of Bullets—a name which he didn't understand.

Finally, he could find a GM console… But no… What account would he log in with?

At this thought, a light snore permeated his senses. Shino, who still rested her head on his shoulder, had fallen asleep. He wasn't sure if she was still slightly conscious or dreaming, however, her balled-up hands loosely clung to his sleeve. In a way, she reminded him of a cat. Vicious at times, adorable at all other moments.

Spurred into action by the soft look on her face, Kazuto lightly lifted his arm to let Shino's hands gently fall into her lap. Then he stood up and wedged an arm under her knees, the other behind her shoulders. Making his way up the stairs, he made special care not to jolt her around, so as to wake her up. Since he'd be diving, he placed her gently on the bed in the guest room, and retreated. The door closed with a click as soft as he could make it.

Back in his own room, Kazuto slipped the NerveGear over his head, the visor dimming his vision. Lying down, the words came to him like second nature.

" **Link start**!"

* * *

Kirito swung the light blade, making a _wuun_ sound. His hair swished back and forth in front of his face, obscuring his vision and throwing off the 'horizontal square' he'd tried to execute.

"Oi, Kiriko-chan, don't accidentally cut your hair with that thing!" Eclipse laughed, standing next to him in the market. At his suggestion, Kirito had just bought the 'Kagemitsu G1', the cheapest and weakest in a line of five photon swords. It only cost 1000 credits—leaving another 4000 for armour and gear.

"I told you not to call me that…" Kirito sulked. Even his voice sounded a little like a girl's. Luckily, his character was definitely male; that didn't mean Eclipse would let him forget about his appearance, though. Now that he thought about it, Eclipse's appearance very closely matched what he looked like in real life. The long white coat reminded him of his appearance when he'd been with the Knights of the Blood in Sword Art Online.

"Anyway, at least you still remember your sword skills. Now, let's get you some equipment," said Eclipse, in the same lazy tone of voice as always.

A mischievous idea popped into Kirito's head. He put all his weight on one leg, and relaxed a shoulder in a feminine posture. "Thanks for taking care of me, mister!" He breathed out in a voice not unlike Asuna's.

Eclipse's hand raised up to his face, seemingly checking for a nosebleed. "Okay, jeez. I'll stop," he grumbled, moving over to the section of the store that sold Kevlar vests. When Kirito walked to join him, he started talking again. "The Kevlar in this game works pretty much like real life. It's basically a really strong plastic made into thin threads and weaved together. The tensile strength is amazing! It—"

"Right, right. What's the point?" Kirito waved his hand around, bored.

"Ah. Well, it's moderately bulletproof."

"What do you mean 'moderately'? Will it protect me from getting shot?"

"Well, a big enough bullet will go through anything." Eclipse gave him an expression like: 'Are you an idiot?'

"I guess you're right." Kirito grimaced, the expression looking quite unnatural on his feminine face.

"Anyway, since you have that sword, you'd probably want the lightest one possible… What about this one? The resistance is quite low, but it's light and cheap." The other boy explained, tapping on one of the shelves. The vest had a simple design, without too many pouches—only four; two on the chest, two on the abdomen. Kirito, following his friend's advice, set the colour to black and purchased it. With his black cotton shirt, baggy black pants and black boots, his pale skin looked snow-white. Even so, he had no intentions of covering his face—or his head whatsoever. Helmets were heavy, hot and itchy, and while facemasks weren't the former, they were worse because they amplified the latter two.

"Ah. You don't have enough money to buy a personal containment field, eh?"

"Uhh..." Kirito opened his inventory, staring intently at his credit value, not even bothering to ask what said item was. "Is… two thousand seven hundred enough?"

"Yeah… no." After saying this, Eclipse smacked his forehead. "You forgot to buy a sidearm! Luckily, you've got enough for, hmm..." He cupped his chin in a hand, and walked through the shelves, leaving Kirito to follow wordlessly.

He showed Kirito another silhouette. "This is the QSZ-92. It's a Chinese gun, but several hundred units made it into Japan—it's got a decent mag cap of 20 and the caliber is quite unique. The 5.8 by 21 millimeter cartridge looks a lot like a rifle bullet—it's great for armor penetration. Even so, it does a relatively small amount of damage. It'll take all your credits, but it'll be worth it."

"Right, so… This'll be my distraction gun?" Kirito had already placed his hand on the register as the robot raced over, and he turned the pistol in his grip in awe. "It's heavier than I thought it'd be."

"Yep. It's made completely out of steel, not like that dinky plastic starter pistol. You don't need me to teach you how to fire it, do you?" Eclipse folded his arms over his chest.

Kirito took the regular stance he'd learned from one of the in-game locations' tutorials. "Nope. I think I've got it."

"Alright," Eclipse turned again, heading for the exit. "Follow me, let's see if I can't train you."

Grumbling something about being a talented—albeit lazy—natural, Kirito's posture drooped a little, and he followed Eclipse outside.

* * *

As Kirito expected, Glocken's surroundings were a barren, featureless desert wasteland. Mild sand dunes waved the ground, but none were high enough to obscure the sight of the endless rock and sand extending to the horizon. He was most definitely lucky that the sun never shone around Glocken—the endless smog cloud above prevented any chance of that by happening—the desert would most likely be sweltering at this time if it did.

Most of the PvE mobs around Glocken were 'Malfunctioning Battle Droids'. Lore-wise, SBC Glocken had had a force droid to crew various positions, and even board enemy ships. Somehow, they'd malfunctioned and now attacked anything on sight.

Game-wise, they were weak. They only went up to level 4, and they all had simple energy weapons, ranging from pistols to semi-automatic rifles. They closely resembled high-tech armour sets of the past decades, with sculpted chest pieces and abdomens that matched the shape of a human's quite close. The legs and arms were constructed of metal plates and various fibers, and the helmet was mostly featureless except for glowing red lens on the left side of the head. Everything about it was pitch-black. Kirito had to admit—it was something he wouldn't be opposed to wearing, if it weren't stuffed full of computers and weapons.

As Eclipse urged Kirito to move up to one and aggro it, a red line appeared in his vision, landing right on his right bicep—the arm that held his sword. Instinctively, he turned the sword so that it was in the way of the red line. The next moment, a bright blue flash exited the droid's barrel, and was absorbed by the photon blade, the slow-firing energy weapon being rendered useless.

"To make things fair for us sword-wielders, the developers put in an exclusive feature, called the 'prediction line'. It's pretty self-explanatory, but you won't see one on a sniper's first shot. Still, it's totally impossible to block more than one or two bullets from an automatic gun, or even a fast-firing semi-automatic one. Oh, and don't get shot, he's aiming at you again." Eclipse explained, then pointed at the droid Kirito had turned his back to.

Again, Kirito held his blade in the way of the projectile. Again, the projectile was harmlessly diffused into the air, and Kirito rushed forward, extracting his pistol from the holster on his thigh. _Bang bang!_ Two shots found their way towards the target, but only one hit, in the abdomen. This was enough to slightly stagger the droid, and he was able to close the remaining five meters to slice the thing in half with a clean horizontal swing. With a flourish, he sheathed the sword behind his back.

Eclipse began to laugh. "You would not know how many times I've seen people do that… Not that I've done it, anyway. I always held my sheath in my other hand."

"Didn't that get tiring?" Kirito deadpanned, flicking the switch off and hanging the sword on his belt by the carabiner on the end.

"It was loosely tied to my belt, so I could just pull it off and move it."

"Oh."

Finished with the SAO reminiscing, Kirito heard quiet footsteps on the yellow sand, and a feminine voice following that.

"E-eh!? Eclipse, what are you doing here? And who is that!?"

He turned quickly, not even knowing who the voice was. "Nothing's going on, I swear!"

Kirito turned as well, and the first thing he saw was relatively short-cropped blue hair— for a girl, anyway. "Si-Sinon?"

Sinon wrinkled her nose; she might have to tell Asuna about this… "Who are you?" Wait… that voice—"Oh god, Kirito?"

He waved his hands in the air frantically. "It's not what you think…!"

She burst out laughing.

* * *

 **A/N:** As the title would suggest, this isn't just a break for the characters, but for me as well. This one's a little shorter- I'll try to make up for that next chapter! Anyways, I leave tomorrow to go on a survival trip for three weeks. No internet, no computers... So maybe I did feel a little rushed to get this one out- I had it planned to be a shorter one anyway, though.

Now I never actually explain everything I want to in these author's notes, but I'll try my best to remember them all.

First of all, I say that Shino's grandparents live near Nagasaki. Japan's whole prefecture/city thing still confuses me a bit, even though it's probably really easy to comprehend (something like the provinces we have here in Canada. Those cities are just packed so close though...). Anyway, the wiki page and the anime have never said where they live, so I wanted them to be somewhere in the south... Just because. I picked Nagasaki because I figured a lot of people have heard of it, and know approximately where it is, nukes be damned. If the wiki or the light novels actually say where her relatives live, I apologize, I didn't see it.

For you new readers, you might notice that I spent a lot of time on an OC. He was in the first book (can I call it that?) of the series, but I never really gave him the loving he deserved, and he remained mostly aimless and personality-less. Now, I'm trying to establish him, his personality, and his relationship with Kazuto a little better. Hope you're liking him!

Even after 19 chapters, I struggle with Shino's personality. It's shown so inconsistently in the anime, it's like she's got friggin' bipolar. Okay, it's not that bad, but still it's bad enough that it's hard for me to get a handle on her. I haven't gotten around to reading the light novels, so maybe getting into her head will make it easier. Who knows?

Ah, yeah. And Kirito is Kazuto IRL, same with all the other characters. As soon as they go in-game, I call them by their 'gamertags'. If that's awkward, let me know. Depending on how you justify it, I will change it. Also, since reading a few of the light novels (the Alicization arc,) Reki Kawahara's writing style has really rubbed off on me. Maybe that's a bad thing, because it paces a little slowly at times. We shall see.

Now, I need to give my usual thanks to my beta, Too Many Obsessions to Choose, or as I like to call her, Tee-mot-see... I tried. She's been wonderful, adjusting my writing ever so slightly to really improve flow and word choice. Much appreciated!

I never know how to use parentheses correctly.

That should be all!

Until next time,

-TheSilentSwordsman


	3. I'm Back!

Hi! It's me!

Okay, okay. So I guess I should explain my long absence, huh? Well... I don't know if I can make it up, but I can try to explain.

If any of you have noticed, the time I disappeared was around the time school started! I'm stuck in this crazy thing called "International Baccalaureate." It's like high school, but hellishly hard. Fantastic, I know. Anyways, since things are slowing down a little and I'm finally learning to budget my time, I thought I'd do you all a solid and start writing once again.

So now that that's out of the way, let's talk about this story in particular. In reality, _Swords and Bows_ doesn't need a sequel, it needs a rewrite. And one of the reasons I stopped writing was the insane writer's block I was getting trying to think of any god-damn ideas for this story. And so it is now that I announce that I plan to wipe the slate clean so to speak, and (possibly) delete all my stories and begin to rewrite Swords and Bows. With that, I must announce the **END** of this little start to a sequel... Thank you all for all of your support throughout this small escapade, and I promise, I'll be back! And perhaps in a more timely manner as well.

Until next time,

-TheSilentSwordsman.


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